AKOR SYLVESTER, Abuja
Nigerian Doctors under the umbrella of Nigeria Medical Associstion (NMA) has called on Federal Government to establish Health Bank in order for the county to run credible private practice instead of medical tourism that is the order of the day in the country today.
The association said the Health Bank when built, would assist the private sector with loan at single digit interest rate to enable the section come up with the state of the art hospitals to handle different health issues in the country.
President of the NMA, Professor Innocent Ujah, who spoke to Daily Champion in Abuja, wondered why Health Bank was not established in the country as was done in industry and agriculture sectors, considering the importance of health sector to every Nigerian.
He said such initiative when given consideration, would help the government in tackling many health challenges in the country.
The NMA boss while advocating that management of the nstion’s hospitals should remain in the hands of both government and private sector, however, said it was the responsibility of government to provide enabling environment for the private sector to strive.
He noted that when both government and private sector run hospitals effectively and efficiently as it is done in other countries of the world, Nigeria would be better for it.
“Government should run its own, while private runs its own. If you go to India, you have Apolo hospital. You have other hospitals there that are run privately by consortium. The Indian government has their own that will take care of the less privileged. Even when you go to England, they have company that runs private hospitals. It complements government ‘s efforts because government alone cannot do it.
“We are saying that in order for government to run credible private practice, instead of medical tourism, it should have what we call Health Bank. We have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, why are we not having Health Bank, so that the private sector can get loan at single digit interest rate and come together and build state of the art hospitals in Abuja, PortHarcourt, Kano, Lagos and other places?.
“In that case, we will have specialized hospitals like chests hospital, Rhena hospital, hospitals that are into fertilisation (IVF) and so on. That is what happens in developed countries. We think that it can be done in Nigeria. NMA has been advocating for Health Bank. That is the solution. What this means is that, the community is segmented. Those who will go to general hospitals , can go; those who will go to private hospitals where time wasting will be reduced, where they will get the best they want with their money, should do so, and therefore, such will reduce what we call medical tourism, so that we have local content and save foreign exchange. That is what the NMA is saying.
“It is not saying that ownership of hospitals should be left in the hands of private sector. The ownership of hospitals should go between government and private sector. But the government must create enabling environment for the private sector to strive so that they can serve Nigerians better”.
Asked whether the country is moving towards that direction, he said: “There is what we call Public Private Partnership (PPP) .It is there, but the implementation, in my opinion, is not satisfactory. The universality of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is key. Every Nigerian adult should contribute to health, even if it’s small. If you pay N200 and you multiply it even by N100 million, it’s alot of money. I know that the National Assembly has passed the bill for compulsory health insurance. It is waiting for the President’s assent. I believe the President will do the needful because health is very expensive. Out of pocket expenditure is over 70 per cent, which is totally unacceptable, considering the situation in the country”.
